Fantasy vs. Reality In November

As they gear up for November’s Congressional election, the Democrats are peddling a fantasy view of events in America: Trump the racist, Trump the trampler on the First Amendment, Trump the warmonger (or something), Trump-Russia collusion, the Republicans as servants of the rich. To an even greater degree than usual, this election will feature a head-on collision between such fantasies and reality.

The reality is that the Trump administration’s policies have been remarkably successful. This is most triumphantly illustrated by the GOP tax reform package, which no Democratic president would have signed into law. Its beneficial effects have already been widely felt. Just wait until next month, when the vast majority of working Americans will get a raise! The Democrats are hoping they won’t notice. Good luck with that.

Every day brings news stories that reflect the administration’s successes. This one at CNBC, about the home improvement company Lowe’s, caught my eye this morning: “Lowe’s to rocket 20% with ‘radically more positive’ outlook after tax cuts: Bernstein.”

Lowe’s stock is set to pop 20 percent in the next year as America’s obsession with homes swells under Republican tax cuts, according to one Wall Street bank.
***
[A]nalyst Brandon Fletcher wrote to clients Monday…”With unemployment low, wages on the rise, and tax reform providing a further potential boost, we now expect increased consumer spend for at least the next year.”
***
Lowe’s outperformed the market in late 2017 as hurricanes Harvey and Irma drove spending on home repairs, while Republican efforts around tax reform likely drove a larger leg up. Low unemployment and an expected uptick in wages are likely to prove beneficial to Lowe’s, while survey results hint that consumers look more willing to spend extra cash on home improvement, Fletcher added.

This is reality: unemployment is low and wages are rising. Republican tax cuts will put more money in just about everyone’s pocket. Surveys show that millions of American families will invest that tax cut money in their homes. Companies like Lowe’s will benefit. This, I think, is the kind of thing that most voters care about.

Democrat hallucinations suggest that voters should recoil in horror from Republicans in this year’s elections. But reality, as experienced by voters, should cause them to be delighted with the achievements of the Trump administration and–notwithstanding early stumbles–the Republican Congress. We have a long way to go until November, but I suspect that this time around, most voters will believe their lying eyes, no matter what the Democratic Party press tries to tell them.